In December of 1989 the Orthodox Christian Church in Romania emerged from a 4-decade-long persecution by Romania's atheist communist state that had jailed thousands of christian ministers, tortured and killed hundreds. Now, just 25 years later there is a burgeoning revival in the liturgical arts accompanying a general religious renewal in the country.

Toma Chituc and Mihai Coman, two iconographers of the Romanian icon renewal.

Mother Atanasia (Văetişi) of the Stavropoleos Monastery in Bucharest, Romania has written an excellent article (translated by Fr. Dragos-Andrei Giulea for the OAJ), highlighting some of the prominent artistic figures in this revival and describing their work. Read the full article here.

While drawing on the wealth of traditional Orthodox iconography, many of these painters are pushing into fresh territory – breathing new life into an ever-living tradition rather than simply copying what has come before. I personally am thrilled to see this freedom and abundance of liturgical imagery being produced in our time and hope to see more of it making its way to North America.

Below we have included some images of the adorned church walls from M. Atanasia's article. Click on the images to view larger: